Functional Foods and Adaptogens: How These Superfoods Boost Health and Fight Stress

If you stroll into any health food store, you’ll probably notice the shelves are packed with foods and supplements labelled as ‘adaptogens’ or ‘functional.’ A bit of skepticism around these labels is probably wise, but adaptogens and functional foods aren’t just buzzwords. They genuinely represent a growing body of scientific research into how certain foods can do more for our bodies than just satisfy our hunger.

In this article, I discuss how functional foods and adaptogens may help us become more resilient against stress and risk factors for disease.

What are adaptogens?

Adaptogens are natural substances found in certain plants thought to help your body handle stress more effectively. The term comes from their potential ability to help you ‘adapt’ to environmental, physical, and biological stressors. What’s interesting about them is that they don’t just mask the symptoms you might experience in a stressful situation — they actually work to restore balance in your body’s systems.

According to research, these substances work through multiple biological channels by acting on our hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is our central stress response system. Through this multi-network approach, they also reportedly affect our immune-neuro-endocrine system, helping to enhance our resistance to external stressors.

Are adaptogens and functional food the same thing?

While there is definitely some overlap between adaptogens and functional foods, they aren’t the same thing.

You could think of adaptogens as a subset of functional foods that specifically target the body’s stress response. All adaptogens are functional foods, but it doesn’t work the other way around. For example, probiotic yogurt is a functional food that directly supports gut health. However, it’s not classed as adaptogenic because it doesn’t help your body ‘adapt’ to a stressful situation.

Functional foods are defined as foods that provide something more than just basic nourishment to the body. This could include anything, from foods fortified with omega-3s that potentially improve heart health and probiotics that support immune function to antioxidants and polyphenols – all that may offer disease-preventing properties. Meanwhile, adaptogens have a specific role in helping your body maintain balance when faced with stressful situations.

What’s the difference between functional food and normal food?

Most of our regular food contains the calories, macronutrients, and vitamins and minerals our bodies need to be able to carry out their essential functions. Functional foods go beyond what our bodies need to survive, supporting us with bioactive compounds that have targeted health benefits.

Since nutritional deficiencies are a growing global concern, functional foods may offer an effective way to address nutrient stability and bioavailability in the foods we consume regularly.

Functional fortified foods, which incorporate essential vitamins, minerals, and bioactive compounds into commonly consumed foods, have emerged as a promising strategy to combat micronutrient deficiencies.

MD. S. Hossain et al. in “Fortified and functional foods: Trends, innovations, and their public health impact for future nutrient enrichment”

Should we all be eating more adaptogenic and functional foods?

The answer to whether we should all be increasing our intake of adaptogenic and functional foods really depends on our lifestyles and our own unique desires for our health. While there is certainly some promising research around the capabilities of adaptogens to help us manage stress and support mental resilience, these substances shouldn’t replace healthy lifestyle habits.

If you are dealing with chronic stress, poor sleep, or are generally feeling run down, then adding an adaptogen to your dietary regimen may help. In this 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis, researchers noted that Withania somnifera (ashwagandha) significantly decreased serum cortisol levels and improved perceived stress scores in mentally stressed but otherwise healthy adults.

However, before you rush out and bulk buy ashwagandha supplements, hoping they are the answer to all your stress-related worries, it feels important to highlight that an adaptogen isn’t going to solve the underlying cause of your stress. Addressing the origins of your stress and incorporating stress-relief practices like spending time in nature or taking a gentle yoga class should be on the agenda, too.

In a similar manner, functional foods can offer support where there may be a nutritional gap. For example, looking into recent research from 2024, we can see a strong indication that probiotics — popular functional food ingredients — support gut health and immune function. They may even have a positive influence on mental well-being through the gut-brain axis.

Taking the potential benefits of adaptogens and functional foods into account, incorporating more of them into your diet may give you the nutritional boost you need. Still, they should always be a supportive addition to healthy diet and lifestyle habits, not a replacement.

Examples of adaptogens

The following table shows some of the most common adaptogens and how they may affect our bodies.

Examples of functional foods

The table below lists some of the most common functional foods that you’ll see in stores and describes their potential benefits.

Final thoughts on adaptogens and functional foods

I think what makes these foods so appealing is that they serve a dual purpose — both food and medicine in one. You don’t need to change your eating habits drastically to include more functional foods in your diet. It can be as simple as switching out plain yogurt for a probiotic one or adding some ashwagandha powder to your smoothie.

However, it’s always worth the reminder that these kinds of dietary additions should form part of an already healthy approach, focused on whole foods, quality sleep, and stress management techniques. When thoughtfully added to your diet, functional foods and adaptogens may be just the boost your body was looking for.